The LUCAS topsoil database and derived information on the regional variability of cropland topsoil properties in the European Union

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 185; no. 9; pp. 7409 - 7425
• Main Authors: Tóth, Gergely, Jones, Arwyn, Montanarella, Luca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agriculture; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon; Carbonates; Cation exchange; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Databases, Factual; Design; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; European Union; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Laboratories; Land use; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Organic carbon; Particle size; Potassium; Sampling techniques; Soil - chemistry; Soil properties; Soil science; Soil testing; Studies; Topsoil; Europe; Bulgaria; Romania; pH; Phosphorus; Nitrogen; Soil organic carbon; Potassium; Land use; Environmental assessment; Organic carbon; Cultivated field; Organic matter; Top soil; Cultivated soil; Agricultural soil; European Union; Environment impact; Database; Environmental monitoring
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-013-3109-3

Approximately 20,000 topsoil samples were collected in 25 European Union (EU) Member States (EU-27 except Bulgaria and Romania) with the aim to produce the first coherent pan-European physical and chemical topsoil database, which can serve as baseline information for an EU wide harmonized soil monitoring. The soil sampling was undertaken within the frame of the Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS), a project to monitor changes in the management and character of the land surface of the EU. Soil samples have been analysed for basic soil properties, including particle size distribution, pH, organic carbon, carbonates, NPK, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and multispectral signatures. Preliminary studies show the outstanding potential of the dataset for enhancing the knowledge base on soils in the EU. The current paper provides an introduction to the LUCAS Topsoil 2009 project and provides an example of data applicability for cropland assessment by highlighting initial results for regional and national comparisons.